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Veterans: Who will you be thinking of on Memorial Day?

Daily Record/Sunday News

Updated:
05/28/2012 03:42:22 PM EDT

Mother Rebecca Driver, left, of York Township, looks up to her son Marine Christopher Zdanis, age 25, right, of Red Lion who just completed his duty with the Marines in April. Driver hugs her other son Matthew, age 9, his twin brother Zach is at center. During the Memorial Day Service at Veterans Memorial Park Monday. (PAUL KUEHNEL - YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS)

Marine Lieutenant Robert Innerst gives the Memorial Day Address during the Memorial Day Service at Veterans memorial Park in York Monday. Innerst is a graduate of Red Land High School. (PAUL KUEHNEL - YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS)

York, PA -
The Memorial Day holiday invites everyone, regardless of whether they have a direct connection to the U.S. military, to remember those who have died in service to the country.

But veterans are closer than most to that sacrifice.

The website "American Homecomings," a nationwide effort led by the Denver Post that includes contributions from the York Daily Record/Sunday News, is asking veterans to talk about who they will be thinking of most this Memorial Day and is compiling those memories.

The website's purpose is to tell the stories of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, and includes news, blogs, resources and more. But veterans of any time period can share their stories about who they'll recall on Memorial Day in a number of ways:

Clyde Hilker holds a strong salute in the heat Monday during the Memorial Day Service at Veterans Memorial Park in York. Hilker, of Spring Grove, is a WWII vet who served in the Army and is retired from the Coast Guard. PAUL KUEHNEL - YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS

At top, Mike Sharp, of Manchester Township and a veteran of Desert Storm, helps out a fellow veteran Memorial Day on Company Street in York during the 2012 veterans Build Blitz Day for Habitat for Humanity. The house will be for veteran Donnell Ingram, of York\, who served eight years active duty and three in the National Guard. Sharp said the way he looks at it, "I was one of the fortunate ones who made it home, for my brothers who didn't, I'm giving back any way I can."
At bottom, Joy Villafane, left, a former habitat home recipient works with Vietnam veteran Jim Erezler, of Spring Garden Township. (PAUL KUEHNEL - YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS)

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